Copyright enforcement should actually be low down on your list of worries Vicki. A work is instantly copyrighted when you create it. You just have to prove it by doing things like emailing it to yourself or a friend so you can prove you created it on such and such a date. There aren’t that many cases of people stealing music before it has been produced or released.
To make sure nobody is ripping you off by using your masters in TV & film once it has been released, check out a site called TuneSat https://tunesat.com/tunesatportal/home. You can use this site to scan media worldwide to make sure people aren’t using your tracks. Hope that helps.
I don’t write music, just the lyrics to songs. If I direct my band how to play and record the music to my song and I sing the lyrics is this whole song my copyrighted material?
That’s a very good question Steven. If any of the members of your band created some of the music without your specific direction, they would be entitled to part of the songwriting. It would also be hard to protect yourself against a claim from one of them if the first copy of the song only exists as a cooperative effort. You could consider asking them to sign a contract before you start composing stating that they are just guns-for-hire and do not have any rights to the songwriting. That is a question you should ask an entertainment lawyer though to see how to go about something like this.
A HUGE worry is always copy-right infringement. Is there a check system when working alone?
Copyright enforcement should actually be low down on your list of worries Vicki. A work is instantly copyrighted when you create it. You just have to prove it by doing things like emailing it to yourself or a friend so you can prove you created it on such and such a date. There aren’t that many cases of people stealing music before it has been produced or released.
To make sure nobody is ripping you off by using your masters in TV & film once it has been released, check out a site called TuneSat https://tunesat.com/tunesatportal/home. You can use this site to scan media worldwide to make sure people aren’t using your tracks. Hope that helps.
I don’t write music, just the lyrics to songs. If I direct my band how to play and record the music to my song and I sing the lyrics is this whole song my copyrighted material?
That’s a very good question Steven. If any of the members of your band created some of the music without your specific direction, they would be entitled to part of the songwriting. It would also be hard to protect yourself against a claim from one of them if the first copy of the song only exists as a cooperative effort. You could consider asking them to sign a contract before you start composing stating that they are just guns-for-hire and do not have any rights to the songwriting. That is a question you should ask an entertainment lawyer though to see how to go about something like this.